# Plasma lens yields bright gamma-rays exceeding 10^28 peak brilliance

- Published: 2026-11-07 03:04 UTC
- Section: Science › Physics
- Tags: beam fast pinching radiation burst, plasma lens gamma ray, peak brilliance, wakefield acceleration, high energy photons, Research journal
- URL: https://realtech.media/news/rt-293de9f616ab8dd03615f310_plasma_lens_yields/

**Physicists modeled a fast pinching burst mechanism in submillimeter plasma that converts over 20% of electron beam energy into gamma-rays.**

![Plasma lens yields bright gamma-rays exceeding 10^28 peak brilliance](https://realtech.media/media/2026/11/331f5b986b1771d1.jpg)
*U.S. Government. 3/4/1789, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain*

Physicists from Zhejiang University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University have modeled a mechanism called the beam fast pinching radiation burst to generate ultra-bright gamma-rays, according to a study published in Research [1]. The concept uses a giga-electron volt electron beam injected into a 400-micrometer plasma with an upramp density profile. The process enables rapid transverse beam compression, yielding collimated gamma-ray bursts with peak brilliance exceeding 10^28 photons s^-1 mm^-2 mrad^-2 per 0.1% bandwidth and photon energies spanning from mega-electron volts to giga-electron volts [1].

## Beam pinching dynamics

In the proposed setup, the upramp plasma profile acts as an effective plasma lens for a 5-GeV, nanocoulomb-class electron beam. As the beam travels through the increasing plasma density, the transverse focusing force intensifies, pinching the electron beam to a sub-micrometer diameter of roughly 0.2 micrometers [1]. This contraction increases electron density by hundreds of times. The focused dense beam drives nonlinear plasma wakefields up to tens of teravolts per meter, propelling the interaction into a radiation-dominated regime where the quantum parameter exceeds 0.2 [1].

## High conversion efficiency

Under these conditions, strong-field radiation reactions cause the intense emission of high-energy photons with a cutoff energy above 2 GeV [1]. The simulated energy conversion efficiency from the electron beam to gamma radiation reaches 31% in a typical case and up to 46.3% with optimized beam parameters, compared to approximately 0.3% observed in uniform plasma schemes [1]. The resulting radiation burst exhibits a 0.2-micrometer spot size, a divergence of about 3 milliradians, a pulse duration of around 5 femtoseconds, and approximately 1.8×10^10 photons at 1 MeV [1].

The authors noted that the mechanism remains robust against initial beam imperfections, tolerating energy spreads up to 10% and lower beam charges down to hundreds of picocoulombs [1]. The necessary upramp density profiles can be fabricated using laser prepulse heating of solid films or supersonic gas jets with blades, enabling implementation on modern laser-plasma or radiofrequency accelerator platforms [1].

## Sources

1. [Research](https://doi.org/10.34133/research.1330)
2. [EurekAlert](https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1150731)

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Source: RealTech, realtech.media — https://realtech.media/news/rt-293de9f616ab8dd03615f310_plasma_lens_yields/